


Ascot Ties and Cursive Lights

by blasphemous



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Bride!Camille, Groom!Magnus, M/M, Post-Wedding, Wedding Planner!Isabelle, Wedding Planner's Brother!Alec
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-03
Updated: 2018-11-03
Packaged: 2019-08-11 14:43:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,274
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16477505
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blasphemous/pseuds/blasphemous
Summary: If Alec had known that agreeing to help his sister with wedding planning meant falling head over heels in love with the soon-to-be groom, his answer would've been a blatantno.Or maybe not.





	Ascot Ties and Cursive Lights

"Hey."

A brief question of _how?_ drifted through Magnus' mind at the simple greeting. _How_ could he long for someone he barely knew? How could he hate the fall in the pitch of a three-lettered word but yearn for it all the same? Enough to crash his own wedding with the bluntest no he'd ever let out, with so much ease that he was beginning to dispute whether it was even wrong of him to do it. 

Alec's hand brought him out of his thoughts, gentle on his shoulder but bearing too much for Magnus to grasp. He could feel the length of each finger, knew every digit that held rings and which were bare. He _hated it._

Alec squeezed tenderly and with his other hand, he dangled a glass of red wine in front of the so-called-groom. "Thought you could use a drink."

Magnus attempted a smile that faltered halfway through, reaching for the glass with his own ringed hand. "Thank you" he finally husked, voice throaty with disuse. He made no move to drink though, one hand clenched around the cabernet glass, the other tracing its lip with a skilful finger. "Do you think I made the right decision?"

For a little while, Alec didn't reply, simply standing there with his own glass held in both hands, a pensive look on his face. Magnus' back was to him, shoulder resting against the brick wall as he looked upon the garden, legs sprawled across the remaining steps of the stairs leading down to the street. "May I?" Alec gestured for the empty spot beside Magnus. Magnus responded with a small wave of his hand and Alec sat down, leaning forward with his forearms resting on his thighs and his eyes ahead. 

They fell into relaxed silence, their heartbeats standing in for the ticking of the passing minutes. 

"Do you love her?" Alec eventually questioned.

"I thought I did" Magnus' voice considerably lowered, conveying a sort of vulnerability Alec had never heard, not even during the times Magnus told him about Camille's mildly possessive behaviour and empty words. "When she walked down that aisle, I-" He cut himself off hastily to inhale, "I didn't feel _anything._ I thought she looked beautiful. She _did_ look beautiful, but once the priest popped the question, it dawned on me how real it all is. How I'll have to condone more lashing out, more ornament-breaking, more of her jealousy and her love for control and demeaning insults, and I knew- I just _knew-_ "

"That that's not what you want?" Alec interrupted, turning his head to look at Magnus, eyes holding so much understanding that Magnus couldn't help but smile at. Then he lifted his drink to his lips and took a detouring sip, trying to gather his thoughts.

"Precisely" he murmured. "Sorry she broke your grandmother's cremation urn in her throes of anger" he went on, lips pursed in dismay.

Alec scoffed, waving a hand. "I hated that grandma, she stopped buying me presents the moment she found out I was gay" he tried to lighten up the mood and given the way Magnus threw his head back with the first genuine laugh Alec had seen from him in the past god knows how many weeks, he succeeded. 

Magnus looked beautiful like this, Alec noted, all laugh lines and watery eyes. _So beautiful._

His laugh was infectious and Alec found himself laughing tiredly into his hands at his own joke. 

When their laughs melted down to irregular cascades of titters, Magnus looked up at the sky, licking his lips in disbelief. "Well, this certainly wasn't how I expected this night to end" he exhaled, watching the vapour of his breath evanesce. 

"I've got to hand it to you, this was one hell of a wedding." Magnus turned to look at Alec, whose lips were pulled into an askew grin. 

"It truly was," he replied, "deliver my apologies to your sister, will you?" 

Alec nodded, but upon seeing Magnus move to stand and leave, and in a moment of swivet, he stood up before Magnus could, heeding the instant confusion drawn on Magnus' countenance. "I- uh, I heard you paid— a lot for.." he lifted a hand to rub his fingers across his nape, cheeks flushing under Magnus' benign scrutiny, "for dance lessons, yes?" 

What Alec was implying sprung to Magnus' mind and his expression softened. "Are you asking me to dance, Alexander?" 

Alec's lips parted before he pressed them together tightly, head bowed. "There's music" he waved an expressive hand, "and no one's around so..people won't think you're.."

"An insensitive bastard?"

"I was going to go for a player" Alec chuckled, then held a hand out in invitation.

Magnus looked at it for a few moments before putting his wineglass on the step beside him and placing his hand in Alec's hand, his own cool in contrast to it. Alec's fingers enveloped Magnus' and he gently brought him to his feet, taking two steps backwards.

Magnus ran the hand that wasn't in Alec's up across Alec's shoulder blade to curl his fingers over his shoulder. 

The action itself stole a beat of Alec's heart, who briefly shut his eyes to gather his self-control, hand coming to rest on Magnus' waist. 

Despite the raucous laughter coming from the venue, disrupting the quiet song, Magnus and Alec danced as one, their bodies fitting against each other perfectly as they swayed. 

Alec could feel the caress of Magnus' cold breath against his cheek, could hear it in his ear. It surrounded him, wholly. Alec's eyes closed, his thumb stroking small circles against Magnus' swathed waist.

The heat of Alec's hands, of his _closeness_ contained Magnus, grounded him in a way he never felt before. 

They shared no words as they danced, but with each sway and with each step, they both finally allowed themselves to _feel._

Alec bent his neck, burying his face in Magnus' shoulder, the last notes of the piano soothing them to a stop. But neither of them made a move to part. 

"I've been selfish" Alec's satiny whisper cut through the silence, "I've been so selfish, Magnus." 

Magnus' jaw flexed as he inhaled a shaky breath. He didn't need to ask Alec what he was referring to, because he knew. He saw how caught off-guard the man was when he first met the soon-to-be weds. He felt Alec's furtive look from across the room when Camille was arguing with Magnus, telling him to take allergy pills, that she _needed those dahlias at their wedding and his allergies won't stand in the way._ He remembered the way Alec fitted the tie around his neck, looking at him like he was the one who's going to be married to him by the end of the day. He also saw the ticking in Alec's jaw when Camille said _yes,_ and the pride dampening his eyes when Magnus said _no._

Alec was so proud that Magnus knew Camille didn't deserve him. That he deserved better than her, even if it wasn't him. 

"If people could control what they felt," Magnus started quietly, lifting a hand to run his fingers through Alec's unruly hair, "hearts would never break.

"And I would be lying if I said you didn't play a burning part in all this."

Magnus felt the curve of Alec's smile against his shoulder before Alec stood upright, taking a deep, composing breath.

Magnus lifted a hand to cradle Alec's cheek. And instinctively, Alec leant into the touch and that alone was enough incentive for Magnus to lean up and brush a lingering kiss against his cheek. "Thank you, Alexander."


End file.
